I went to Clear.com today to see if they had improved the coverage map, which they have. You can now get a Google overlay map with antenna coverage for your address.

The new map is cool. But if you zoom out, it just looks like someone went nuts with [...]]]> Dan – Clear WiMax and Clearwire Internet Review

I went to Clear.com today to see if they had improved the coverage map, which they have. You can now get a Google overlay map with antenna coverage for your address.

The new map is cool. But if you zoom out, it just looks like someone went nuts with the spray paint feature of MSPaint. Coverage just happens to stop on the other side of the street from my place, but pick up again about a a block behind me. Explains why I’m constantly losing signal and can’t get more than one bar.

When the wind blows just right, I jump up to full bars. Strange, huh?

Anyway, at the bottom of the page, it lists part of their TOS.. This is what I noticed:

“Limited time offer. Taxes, equipment and other charges apply. ‘For Life’ service plan price guarantee conditioned on: (a) no change (e.g., in plan features; in stated residence location)”

So, according to this statement, Clear doesn’t want you moving while you’re in their auto-renewable 2yr contract, otherwise they can change your plan/rates.

This is absurd…

I initially decided to try Clear when they came to Chicago recently. The initial experience was good. I saw the 3-6 Mb/s speeds they claimed. Then apparently they started throttling the speeds so they could charge more. I haven’t seen anything better than 1Mb/s in weeks [...]]]> Michael from Chicago – Clear WiMax and Clearwire Internet Review

I initially decided to try Clear when they came to Chicago recently. The initial experience was good. I saw the 3-6 Mb/s speeds they claimed. Then apparently they started throttling the speeds so they could charge more. I haven’t seen anything better than 1Mb/s in weeks and that’s when it works at all.

My take on Clear is this, if you want it for true mobile use, via a USB adapter it’s really not a bad deal as long as they have good coverage in your area. But stay as far away from them for home service as you can.

I have RCN coming back out tomorrow to re-install my 20Mb/s connection for the same price I could get 3-4Mb/s from clear.

Signed,
More foggy than Clear

Clear service sucks. Its a scam. The customer service sucks. Its very slow. Never get the clear internet service.

I’m a computer tech, and I have a few customers that have Clear and never mentioned any issues.  They’re not the most savvy, so they probably dont know if they’re pulling 700k, as opposed to their advertised and purchased 4-6 mb.

Anyway, I signed up, since I had embarq, [...]]]> Brad – Clear WiMax and Clearwire Internet Review

I’m a computer tech, and I have a few customers that have Clear and never mentioned any issues.  They’re not the most savvy, so they probably dont know if they’re pulling 700k, as opposed to their advertised and purchased 4-6 mb.

Anyway, I signed up, since I had embarq, and the highest speed I can get in my area was 1.5 mb and I figured the 4 to 6 mb was great.

Well I couldn’t do any better than 1.5. I figured I’d call and cancel within the 7 days, but I started thinking, if the best I can get with embarq is 1.5, and I have the possibility to spike upwards of 2, why not just keep clear, for cheaper, right?

Wrong.

I’m LUCKY if I pull 1.5mbs now with 4 bars. The best speed I can get, is if it sit in my backyard which is 2.92mbs, best I’ve gotten so far.

Walk into my house and it drops to 700kish, with spikes to about 1.6, TOPS.  Not to mention all of the drop connections. Lost pakcets etc…

Now I’m about 10 days past the 7 day cancellation time, and they want to charge me the fee. F*** that. I told them that I signed up for between 4 and 6 mbs, and since I’m not getting it, THEY are the ones voiding the contract. They agreed, but said I had to let their tech troubleshoot it, so tonight, I’ll play nice and let them fondle and finagle their way to whatever speed they can get, and even if they get me to 4 mbs, I’ll still deny it and throttle the connection myself so get them to let me out of the contract.

I have cox cable coming over with 18mbs for $59.99/mo and I’ve been with them for years in the past, so I KNOW their service is good. I only canceled with them when I moved; a few years ago due to no service in that area, now I’m back.

I live in Platine, it is north of Chicago. My speed is only .2mbs on 3 lights. I just bought the modem. Clearwire told me “we are having power problems in Chicago area”. It is BS, for a week the internet was down and other days [...]]]> Oleg from Chicago – Clear WiMax and Clearwire Internet Review

I live in Platine, it is north of Chicago. My speed is only .2mbs on 3 lights. I just bought the modem. Clearwire told me “we are having power problems in Chicago area”. It is BS, for a week the internet was down and other days it is at 0.2 mbs.

SO, after shopping around for new wireless service after relocating to Boise, Idaho I found myself standing in a Clear wireless store. Why Clear? An online ad offering $35 dollars a month and no contract. I hate contracts. Contracts feel like commitment.

Once in the store, [...]]]> T.M. Bain from Boise – Clear WiMax and Clearwire Internet Review

SO, after shopping around for new wireless service after relocating to Boise, Idaho I found myself standing in a Clear wireless store. Why Clear? An online ad offering $35 dollars a month and no contract. I hate contracts. Contracts feel like commitment.

Once in the store, I am informed by the service representative that, in fact, there is no such thing as no contract service, but that if for any reason I was dissatisfied with my service I could cancel my contract within seven days with no explanation required. I was also told that the $35 dollars was not unlimited access, and considering my work as a freelance writer of web content requires I spend a good deal of time online, this seemed unlikely to end well. For $45 dollars, I was told, I could “upgrade” to unlimited service.

Seduced by the idea of being able to carry my service with me wherever and the idea that I could cancel without obligation within 7 days, I decided to proceed, that is until during casual conversation with the salesman, we discovered that my computer’s operating system would not support the driver for the USB modem required for mobile internet service.  At that point, having signed no contract or completed any transaction that I was aware of, I told the salesman that since they couldn’t provide the service I was supposedly purchasing, I would rather not proceed.

He looked at me blankly and said, “Well, actually, as of ten minutes ago you are officially a customer. If you want to cancel your service, you have to call the corporate office.” Let me make perfectly clear that I had not A: taken possession of any equipment or B: so much as tried to connect my computer to Clear’s fickle internet. BUT, sitting there, needing to pee and feeling held hostage in a green and white internet-based interment camp, I called customer service.

“Well,” said the woman on the phone when I explained my compatibility issues, “Maybe you want to take advantage of our contract transfer program- you could get someone to take your contract over for you.”  I found a very pleasant way to say “What effing contract???” and reiterated the fact that the salesman had assured me that I had the afore-mentioned 7 days. I mentioned that since mobile internet was not available to me, it made more sense for me to go with another company, to which she replied (yes, this now makes me laugh sardonically until I pee a little) that another company would not be able to “provide me the superior customer service that Clear provides.”

After a half an hour of explaining and re-explaining that it was not possible for me to use their service, she finally agreed to cancel my account.  So imagine my chagrin when the next day, I check my bank activity and find that Clear has charged my account not once, but THREE TIMES.  I check my email and find a message from them, sent hours after I left the store, thanking me for signing up for their service and reiterating the terms of my contract.  The contract I never signed.  The contract I never so much as set eyes on.  The contract that accounts services assured me the night before did not exist. The magical effing unicorn contract that empowered them to keep my money.

And again, I call customer service, where I am told that the store manager can’t help me. CUSTOMER SERVICE can’t help me. I will have to wait until MONDAY and call Accounts Services to attempt to get my money back. When I ask where to direct complaints (if you look up “contact us” on the website, you are offered the options to either pay your bill or-no shit- “send us a compliment”!?!) I was told there WAS nowhere to direct complaints. I feel this is because they can’t afford to pay enough people to field them, even after laying down such an airtight scam.

I signed up for clear wire in july 09. I told the guy at best buy, I want the 1 year contract only and that I want pay for my modem. I payed for my modem outright with cash before I left the store. On my bill they [...]]]> James – Clear WiMax and Clearwire Internet Review

I signed up for clear wire in july 09. I told the guy at best buy, I want the 1 year contract only and that I want pay for my modem. I payed for my modem outright with cash before I left the store. On my bill they have still been charging me an equipment lease fee.

My service has not worked right since I got it. I will have periods of 1.5 MB but mostly I can get .5 MB with a 5 bar connection. Every time I call tech support they say it is something on my end. First my voip was too close to router, then it was my router. I unhook everything plug into computer still same speeds.

What happens is they throttle my bandwidth. It will work fine for an hour or so then slow down. I like to use net flix and watch movies and everytime during the middle of a movie my connection slows down and has to reload. I understand movies take alot of bandwith but if they didn’t want you to stream why do they advertise thier service as good for streaming.

So I am very frustrated and call to confirm that in 4 short months my clear wire hell will be over with and I can find a decent ISP. Well what do you know but some jack hole on the phone says my contract has 16 more months. That I had signed up for a 2 year contract….. WTF People…. This company blows worse than AOL in the early 90′s.

I could go on and on but… you get the point. What do I do about this terrible company?  How do I get out of this contract without getting charged a late fee?  I am tempted to go ghetto and just change and get a new bank card so they can’t charge my bank and then flipping the bird… credit be damned!

I receive emails all the time from people just like yourself, sharing their negative Clear experiences. As I have mentioned many times… this is a personal project and my personal time is so few and far between I often forget to update it. I [...]]]> Hello all you current, past and potential future Clear / Clearwire Customers!

I receive emails all the time from people just like yourself, sharing their negative Clear experiences. As I have mentioned many times… this is a personal project and my personal time is so few and far between I often forget to update it. I have added 3 of the older reviews and scheduled 3 to be updated in the coming few days and I’ve only got about 15 more to go before I’m caught up to the current reviews.

It is unfortunate that after all this time people are regularly emailing in to complain. Although I have received 3 positive reviews of Clear’s service I don’t feel like posting them. If you are searching for Clear service I assume you’re going to do adequate research. This site hosts reviews that prove I am not insane and the service is almost universally bad wherever you go. You want to find all the people that love their service, you’ll have to search elsewhere.

I can only assure you that if you do send a review in, it will make its way to the site and your voice will be heard. It may not do any good to you, but it could be the factor in saving someone else a Clear WiMax or Clearwire Internet headache.

I live in Seattle and I signed up for Clearwire in 2008. It actually worked well for me. In January 2010 I was notified that I would need new equipment for the upgrade to Clear. When I received the new modem and plugged it in, I [...]]]> Ryan from Seattle – Clear WiMax and Clearwire Internet Review

I live in Seattle and I signed up for Clearwire in 2008. It actually worked well for me. In January 2010 I was notified that I would need new equipment for the upgrade to Clear. When I received the new modem and plugged it in, I immediately noticed that I did not have as good range with Clear so I unplugged it and plugged the old modem back in.

The old modem was still reliable. I chalked the reduced range on the new modem up to interference from the two operating technologies and figured there would be improvement once the old technology was switched off. However, a few weeks later when I passed a sales representative on the street, the representative suggested I contact technical support as the upgrade actually may have resulted in the range going down.

I just left alone for the time being and would contact support if I needed to with the new equipment once the old equipment stopped working. In early March, the old equipment did in fact stop working as expected. I started using the new equipment and I was lucky to have two lights for an extended amount of time. Then all the disconnections started happening. And these were happening no matter where I placed the modem.

I finally called support to “go on the record” with this and we went through the motions of moving the modem around the room with no success. They then sent a technician to my place about one week later. The technician even brought his own modem and came to the same conclusion I already had, I don’t have good range. The technician said the reason behind the reduced range was power to the towers had been reduced and expanded coverage came from additional sites.

The technical said he would put the notes on the account and it should show up the next day. I didn’t call to cancel right away because I had hoped I would be able to make due with Clear until I decided on a replacement ISP. However, this past weekend, I finally got fed up with the disconnections and the modem not linking back up with the tower that I unplugged the modem for the last time and boxed it up. The following Monday, I called Clear to discontinue service, initially they were going to start the troubleshooting process all over again but I told them that I had already been down that road and even mentioned they had sent someone out to my place and nothing could be done.

I was transferred and the person I dealt with at that point didn’t see the notes on the account and went so far to ask me “were you not home when the technician came?” I responded with the date and time the technical came by and the conclusions that were reached. The person on the other side of the phone then told me what would happen next. They sent me the UPS label to return it and the cancellation will not be put through until they receive the modem back. As I write this, the modem is currently in transit.

I was bamboozled into this as well. No contract, they pitch. Connect anywhere, bus stop, park, la la la. The reality is that they sell you with great speed when you call in, send you a modem that has a 3 feet cord to the wall, and then [...]]]> Heather – Clear WiMax and Clearwire Internet Review

I was bamboozled into this as well. No contract, they pitch. Connect anywhere, bus stop, park, la la la. The reality is that they sell you with great speed when you call in, send you a modem that has a 3 feet cord to the wall, and then they ask you to accept the terms when you connect for the first time.

If you read the terms, you are agreeing to automatic billing and an unspecified contract, which you will only discover (it’s like xmas – “oh goodie, two years you say?  I had no idea!”)  when you call to dispute the fact that you can’t get a connection unless you stand by your kitchen sink with your laptop.

I reported them to the BBB and I suggest others do as well so they get evaluated for their fraudulent advertising and grotesque contracting practices.